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Tully: Crime data reveal depth of Indy's gun problems

We have a gun problem in this country and in this city. We have too many people who should not possess guns possessing them, and we have such loose laws on legal gun sales that it makes it easy for criminals to get their hands on them.

The document made me think of all of my NRA friends who email me every time I write about guns to ask why I don't argue passionately for knife control — because, they argue, people kill people with knives, too. It's not a serious question, of course, as the data show: Of the city's 70 criminal homicides this year, 61 were committed with guns.

Two were the result of stabbings.

We have a gun problem in this country and in this city. We have too many people who should not possess guns possessing them, and we have such loose laws on legal gun sales that it makes it easy for criminals to get their hands on them. We also have a country full of politicians who live in fear of upsetting irrational groups such as the NRA and, thus, respond weakly to tragedies such as the massacre at an elementary school or another year of mass violence in American cities.

Fortunately, Riggs pushes the politics aside better than some of us and simply argues that the numbers are what the numbers are, and that something must be done about the problem. He's not interested in a Second Amendment debate but instead wants the legal system to take all gun crimes, even those that don't result in deaths, more seriously. He believes shootings in which someone doesn't die should be treated much more similarly to those that result in deaths.

"The shooter intended to take someone's life," he said. "That was his intent, and we need to treat it that way."

But he talks more about the deep-seated social problems in the city than he does about sentencing. He talks about the need for more summer jobs programs and has backed that up by raising money for them. He met recently with young single moms to make the point that "we care about your success," and he has reached out to ministers, neighborhood groups and just about anyone else who is willing to talk.

Still, while he says more punishment for being reckless with a gun is needed, he quickly adds that all the heavy sentences in the world will not make a city safe if it is filled with people who have no hope, no positive family support, and no idea of what is possible in a life that rejects the pull of the streets. Sentences alone will not solve the problem if the city can't find a way to reverse the tragedy of absentee fathers and young people who lack positive role models who can show them a better way.

To amplify that point, Riggs handed over another spreadsheet. This one listed the suspected motives in this year's criminal homicides. What struck him most was that 16 of the killings were the result of an argument or fight, and another eight were acts of revenge.

That's 24 homicides, he said, committed by people who lack the most basic of conflict-resolution skills. That's 24 homicides, he added, that in many cases stemmed from issues as petty as an accidental bump while walking down the street or a neighborhood grievance. It's road rage on steroids.

I've been stunned while looking through scores of police reports lately by the minor issues that so often lead to homicides. So many people, it seems, have a hair-trigger mentality and an easy willingness, or even eagerness, to use the guns illegally stuffed in their pockets.

Then there is one other statistic that keeps Riggs awake at night. This one centers on the increase in the number of homicide scenes involving multiple victims this year. Last year, Indianapolis saw four such cases, he said. This year, it already has recorded nine, and the year isn't half over.

"They're killing witnesses," he said.

The bottom line? The free flow of guns in the city, along with a deepening social crisis, is leading to very scary data.